The Behringer era

The Lounge General Discussion
#413

I earn money the hard way and not a lot of it.
So one might think behringer is doing me a great favour by
offering me such affordable synths.

But you know what:
When I buy synths or fx i don´t mind to pay a little bit more, when i get quality for my money.
I also like the feeling that I support cool people doing cool stuff and
have a nice place to work.
I prefer beeing part of that instead supporting a company like behringer.
working in a big factory sucks !

people always run for the cheap stuff and wonder when their own
working power gets cheaper too.

I don´t want to get too political, but I´m really convinced that
the only real power i have in this so called democracy (germany)
is my consume behaviour.
I try my best to buy good food, that was produced as near as possible to my place, i buy pretty much everything in shops in my
area… if possible ! they get less and less because internet kills them.
no music shop anymore in my area :frowning:
i know that i could get the same things cheaper in the internet.
but i like to support good people and good jobs.
maybe it helps their families to afford my work !

sometimes i buy cheap bad stuff too !
but I think I can easliy resist to buy a behringer
(it´s too cheap anyway)
somehow it stands for many things i think makes this planet so fucked up. price and money is not the only value there is.

just my very subjective thoughts about that topic.

it´s so hard to find biscuits without palm oil these days !

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#414

What evidence is all of this contempt based on? Have you used a behringer model d? Does it suck/feel cheap? Have you read undisputed articles about the way behringer treat their employees? Have you a moral dispute with the law that forces patents to expire?

Or did you just read some music forums?

A lot of the behringer hate is coming across as borderline slander and just a bunch of gossip/witch hunt where behringer is being singled out unfairly. Haven’t seen one solid piece of info in this thread that really made me think about questioning my feelings on recent behringer. Links anyone?

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#415

With what behringer recent synth you’re not getting quality for your money ?

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#416

Kudos to you. Care to share who you’re buying from, for example?

I try to steer clear of that sh!t, too. No more Nutella in our house.

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#417

behringer is a long story, heard about them about 20 years ago.
most of their stuff really sucked quality-wise. also most of their
products have been cheapest rip offs.
there was that joke between audio engineers:
the only reason to buy a behringer is that they are cheaper than rack screens…
that was pre internet time but people already talked about child labour, etc… maybe they just assumed ?
certainly behringer got better with the years.
the factories in the youtube clips don´t look worse than the factories i worked in. (I worked about 6 years in 4 different factories!)
but I hated it to work in such a place !
when i spend money for moog, vermona, oto, jomox, koma, bastl …
i imagine (or dream) that i support people that like their job and somehow enjoy what they do. like i pay not only for the product itself but also for the “good spirit”
i´m not behringer focused with my negative feelings against many companies. but behringer is definetly part of them.

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#418

You guys are kidding yourself thinking more money thrown on gear is fighting the evil of this world.
In reality, you’re just pushing the money into pockets of rich people that are middlemen between China and western world. these rich guys still source most of the stuff from China. The whole world is doing it. And they charge you for nice logo so you can believe in it.

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#419

With Moog etc I get the feeling that the workers are “trying”. Elektron is trying. Tatsuya takahashi was trying. To make cool things. Original. New. Unique. Tools for people to make music with.

With Behringer I feel they are putting no effort in whatsoever. cloning a model D? Cool no one can afford a real one. A mother 32? That’s just pathetic.

I just don’t like their whole approach.

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#420

When you see somebody and say to yourself I con do the same, it’s not that hard.
And you can do it better because you’ll do it cheaper. There’s nothing pathethic about it.
I have a feeling they will come with more exotic designs in the future.
Why they can’t make everything they want but cheaper than others? they’re serving a purpose.
It’s not like people don’t want the stuff that they offer. Quite the opposite there’s a demand for similar products to the ones offered on the market but that are more affordable. They address that need.
Snobs usualy are unhappy because they feel worse about their more expensive machines that do the same stuff as more affordable ones.

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#421

I understand your position. I just personally don’t believe Behringer can innovate. Maybe I’ll be wrong.

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#422

I dunno really. Not sure I understand the moral benefit of throwing money at comfortable dudes in US over throwing it at deprived dudes in China. They’re all strangers, all humans… maybe I’m just being naive?

And I also feel like people hating on current behringer down to the fact they didn’t like old behringer is possibly just prejudice dressed as moral superiority? Like, ‘nope not letting you come good. Not changing my opinion’. Which isn’t so cool…

Seems like the ‘good’ of bringing this stuff to people in decent quality now kind of acts to balance out how shonky some old gear might have been. But it was ALWAYS cheap, budget gear and people knew the risks back then when buying it…not sure quite how much the company has to feel overly guilty about?

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#423

I would argue Neutron is one of the most innovative analog monosynths in recent times.

Behringer is doing what people want. Competitors are free to do the same.

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#424

i think i know what you mean.
as said before, i bought cheap stuff too,
but for example i like throwing my money to people like vermona,
bastl, koma, oto, or others here in europe. they seem like normal dudes to me doing cool stuff ! they should get their money, same like i wanna get good money too for my work. so i can be a comfortable dude !

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#425

Expensive vs cheap doesn’t say a whole lot though.

Apple is the best example of this. I do get where you come from though. You could give money to both Behringer and those boutique builders however. :wink: They all make unique and/or interesting things

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#426

So true! We stopped buying Cookies at the store because of that at all and Bake them ourselves. Much better for my stomach…

#427

mankind just doesn´t stop to kill the rainforest. palm oil is one of the reasons. no one cares. it´s sad. people are people. if mankind was just one person that would be a fuckin idiot !

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#428

So Nietzsche was right. The masses of ppl are dumb.

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#429

I don’t think there is palm oil in any synths made by Behringer.

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#430

i think nietzsche was an arrogant asshole. extremely negative and incredibly intelligent. but somehow he was right in many things. no wonder he became crazy with age.

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#431

Does anyone know if the average Chinese Behringer worker is of a considerably lower financial status than their world counterparts?, in term of standard of living.

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#432

The synths “built in the US by employee owners” are still using Chinese components. It is inescapable at this point. So now do we buy the US made synth and then go on a moral rampage against the Chinese PCB and diode manufacturers? You’re right, this is all a circular discussion. Notice how the discussion assumes the Chinese workers are exploited and the US workers are not. How do we even know either is true if not for a PR blurb on the corporate website?

It would be interesting to compare real employee experiences of the two factories. For all we know some Moog employees might say they are barely able to pay their bills and feed their kids whereas the B factory workers might be thankful to have a new apartment, full utilities and for the fact they no longer have to fish polluted rivers for food.

We can’t gather much from the single review of Moog on Glassdoor:

Recommends

Neutral Outlook

Disapproves of CEO

Pros

Great people on the floor. Fun, smart, casual atmosphere.

Cons

Not many opportunities for career advancement. You will do the same thing for years, maybe shifting products occasionally. “Wage freeze” means no raises. Meager pay.

Advice to Management

Pay a living wage and the quality of a lot of things will improve. Huge disconnect between exec team and people rowing the boat.

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